During her concession speech in front of supporters Monday night after a losing bid to stay on as mayor of Mississauga, Carolyn Parrish reflected on her time in politics.
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Parrish → stay → politics
“I’ve had a great career.
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I → have → career
I can’t complain after 40 years in the business,” she told the room.
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she → complain → room
Her “great career” remark had me scratching my head at first, given she had just lost.
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she → have → head
But then I thought about Parrish’s many years in office, as well as those of former Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie, and Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, all three of whom I’ve interviewed or written about over my years as a journalist for the Star.
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I → think → Star
Lived to fight another day
Though Chow prevailed Monday in Toronto, while Parrish and Crombie both lost in Mississauga’s mayoral contest to Alvin Tedjo, it struck me that the three women share one similarity; they’ve tasted bitter defeat in their political careers yet lived to fight another day.
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they → live → day
They aren’t the only women in the GTA to have fought hard to ascend to the top position of mayor of a big city, of course.
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They → fight → course
Hazel McCallion, who had a 36-year reign as Mississauga’s mayor, is the standard bearer given her lengthy time at the helm.
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who → have → helm
Other noteworthy females to reach the mountain top include Toronto’s pre-amalgamation mayors Barbara Hall and June Rowlands.
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females → reach → mayors
Whether you’re aligned with their policies or not, Crombie, Parrish and Chow have all held power at a time, as we all know, when it’s extremely challenging for women to gain a foothold in politics, or rise to the top levels.
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women → align → levels
Women made up only 32 per cent of all candidates who ran for office municipally in the province on Monday, according to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO).
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who → make → Ontario
I first came to know about Parrish early in my career at the Star when, as former Peel public school board chair she was running for a council seat in Mississauga in Ward 7, an election I covered.
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I → come → Ward
She and her main rival traded leads in the voting results five times on election night, before Parrish lost to incumbent Nando Iannicca.
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Parrish → trade → Iannicca
But she would do battle in the political ring again and come out on top.
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she → do → top
She later captured the position of councillor in Mississauga, before moving on to a headline-generating career as a federal MP for Mississauga, first as a Liberal and later an independent.
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She → capture → Liberal
She made the news in 2003 after she was overheard saying “damn Americans.
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she → make → Americans
I hate those bastards,” as she walked out of a caucus meeting in Ottawa.
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she → hate → Ottawa
Her remarks, heard by the media, came just before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
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remarks → hear → Iraq
After widespread criticism, Parrish apologized in the House of Commons.
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Parrish → apologize → Commons
She was elected four times federally and during that time made other controversial comments.
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She → elect → comments
She made it known that she spoke her mind, though other actions and remarks by her, including public criticism of her own party, led to her expulsion from the federal Liberal caucus in 2004.
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actions → make → 2004
She returned to local politics in Mississauga in 2006, serving several terms as councillor, losing a few council races along the way, before her big mayoral victory in 2024.
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She → return → 2024
Bonnie Crombie
Crombie first broke onto the political scene as an MP in Mississauga in 2008, though she lost her position three years later.
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she → break → position
She would soon move on to win a seat on Mississauga council and her triumph came in the 2014 municipal election when Crombie became Mississauga mayor.
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Crombie → move → election
She won three terms as mayor.
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She → win → mayor
It was during this period that I was assigned by the Star to write a major profile on her, which included face-to-face interviews.
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which → assign → interviews
She was rather candid, sharing some sensitive family dynamics, including that her late father struggled with alcoholism, ended up in a homeless shelter and died from thyroid cancer.
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father → share → cancer
Aside from her mayoral wins, she saw political success in another arena when in 2023 she captured the leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party, only the third woman ever to lead the party provincially.
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she → see → party
But two years after that Crombie was embarrassed when her Liberals finished third to Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative party in the provincial election.
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Liberals → embarrass → election
She later resigned her role as party leader.
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She → resign → leader
Olivia Chow
Chow has had similar highs and lows in her busy life in politics.
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Chow → have → politics
Before becoming mayor, she was a school trustee in Toronto, moving on to become an elected representative on what was then called Metro council and later Toronto city council where she served for 14 years.
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she → become → years
But running as federal MP in Toronto she saw consecutive losses — in 1997, 2004, before breaking through in 2006 for the NDP in Trinity-Spadina, winning again in 2008 and 2011, but lost in 2015.
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she → run → 2015
She ran for mayor in Toronto in 2014, coming a disappointing third behind winner John Tory and runner-up Doug Ford.
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She → run → Tory
But she ran again three years ago and won; the first woman mayor in the megacity and one of Chinese descent.
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she → run → descent
She captured a resounding victory over Brad Bradford — a consecutive mayoral term and rock-solid mandate.
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She → capture → Bradford
“I will be the mayor for everyone, for every neighbourhood for every community,” Chow said after being crowned.
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Chow → say → community
They indeed have had great political careers.
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They → have → careers
The Aporia
